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Fond memories? Not for everyone

Mark reports this afternoon that members of the Legislative Black Caucus sat out votes on a resolution honoring the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

The silent dissenters included Greensboro legislators Katie Dorsett, Alma Adams and Earl Jones.

Sen. Julia Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, voted against the resolution, Mark notes – "a highly unusual move on a measure that honors a dead person."

Boseman is white.

Maybe a no vote is inappropriate, but I don't blame any legislator who would decline to vote yea.

Helms, known for his personal courtliness, didn't pull punches in the political arena. He certainly never endeared himself to the state's black population, other minorities or anyone who didn't share his conservative beliefs.

Frankly, many North Carolinians would fiercely dispute the statement in this resolution that Helms "represented our State with honor for thirty years before retiring in 2003."

A legislator who doesn't believe that shouldn't vote to endorse it.

Sure, Helms is dead and gone. But it was the sponsors of the resolution who brought him back. If they expected harmony, they must have forgotten the real Jesse Helms. He never stood for that.

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Posted by Doug Clark on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 4:42 pm

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Doug Johnson

June 9, 2009 - 5:55 pm EDT

Yea this is more a Jim Black, Mike Easley,Frank Balance, Michael Decker,Thomas Wright kinda of state.
Oh did I leave out another liberal hero, Mike Nifong.
Thank God the feds got a few of these.

Get A Clue

June 10, 2009 - 7:32 am EDT

"Maybe a no vote is inappropriate....."

No, it isn't. A real man or woman would have stood and decried the canonization of an avowed racist. Just as a real citizen must decry the abuse of power as evidenced by the Easleys' recent abuses of power.
Country first, not political affiliation.

scharrison

June 10, 2009 - 11:25 am EDT

"I’m a conservative progressive, and that means I think all men are equal, be they slants, beaners or niggers.” Jesse Helms, 1985.

With friends like that...

Connie Mack Jr

June 10, 2009 - 4:09 pm EDT

But it was the sponsors of the resolution who brought him back. If they expected harmony, they must have forgotten the real Jesse Helms. He never stood for that* Doug

That is like the present day German Paliment voting a resolution that Hilter was really a good guy, but his advisers never told him about the Jewish dentention camps......" If only the Furher knew"